Relocation as a Real Estate Portfolio Optimization Tool

In a context marked by the acceleration of remote work, the generalization of flex office, economic uncertainty, and the imperative of energy sobriety, relocation is no longer a simple logistical operation or a one-time response to a lack of space.

It becomes a strategic lever to transform the company's real estate model, making it more agile, more efficient, and more aligned with real usage.

Well anticipated, a relocation project can generate benefits that are economic, organizational, and human. It allows you to:

Reduce operating costs

Adapt surfaces to new ways of working

Improve implantation performance

Support managerial and cultural transformation

Strengthen the company's image and attractiveness

Here's how a simple "relocation" can become an act of strategic real estate portfolio management.

1. Re-examining real needs: moving from a stock logic to a usage logic

The first effect of massive remote work and flex office is a drop in real workstation occupancy. Today, many companies find that their spaces are underutilized: occupancy rates can fall below 50%, even 30% on certain days.

In this context, a relocation is the ideal opportunity to:

Rethink the right size of necessary surfaces, based on real occupancy rates

Implement or generalize desk sharing solutions

Reduce surfaces dedicated to fixed workstations and increase high-value-added spaces:

phone booths, collaborative zones, informal spaces, internal libraries…

Eliminate symbolic but inefficient surfaces (large unused open spaces, oversized corridors…)

Objective: design spaces adapted to new uses, both functional, attractive, and evolutive, avoiding the trap of "exact copy" of old offices.

2. Reducing direct and indirect costs

Real estate is often the second largest expense for companies after salaries. Optimizing your portfolio means first and foremost regaining control over costs, both short and long term.

A relocation project can enable:

Reducing occupied surface area, based on occupancy analyses or controlled densification objectives

Renegotiating lease conditions: duration, rent, charges, included services

Opting for a newer, better insulated building, and therefore less energy-intensive, in line with regulatory obligations (notably the tertiary decree)

Consolidating dispersed sites to eliminate redundancies: multiple receptions, technical premises, parking, general services…

Example: a multi-site company was able to reduce its total surface area by 25% by bringing together three entities in a single building, while improving space quality.

Bonus: indirect gains

These savings are reinforced by secondary gains:

Reduction in travel times (and therefore carbon footprint)

Decrease in maintenance or cleaning costs

Rationalization of IT equipment and furniture

A well-thought-out relocation allows you to regain control over operating costs while preparing the company for its future challenges.

3. Adapting the portfolio to a more distributed organization

The "everyone at headquarters five days a week" model is now obsolete. Companies must now work with:

Hybrid employees, between office, home, and third places

Decentralized teams across multiple territories

Business hubs that function differently according to their activity

A relocation offers the opportunity to reorganize the global real estate network to respond to this reality.

Several levers to activate:

Implementation of a "multi-format" strategy: main headquarters + coworking + regional hubs + remote work

Closing buildings that are too rigid or not evolutive

Partial relocation to areas better adapted in terms of cost, accessibility, or quality of life

Possibility of setting up framework agreements with coworking operators to support nomadic uses

This new mapping allows better absorption of headcount variations, facilitates internal mobility, and offers more choice to employees.

4. Valuing the existing real estate portfolio

Optimizing also means valuing what exists, and making intelligent trade-offs:

Releasing obsolete or non-strategic assets, through sale, subletting, or partial "release"

Identifying opportunities for conversion of certain buildings (e.g., transformation into shared spaces or complementary activity)

Modernizing a strategic implantation to strengthen its attractiveness (proximity to transport, functional diversity, services…)

Taking advantage of the relocation to review all leases: duration, deadlines, clauses, contractual harmonization

Result: a streamlined, controlled, and more readable real estate portfolio — a major asset for financial performance and medium-term decision-making.

5. Supporting managerial and cultural transformation

Beyond square meters, relocation deeply impacts company culture. It allows:

Anchoring management by objectives, by reducing implicit surveillance linked to physical presence

Introducing new digital tools, necessary in a more hybrid environment

Breaking down silos by creating spaces conducive to cross-functionality

Promoting new behaviors: mobility, trust, empowerment

But these transformations are not decreed: they are prepared and supported.

This is why a relocation project must be thought of in close connection with HR, business units, and IT, to ensure global coherence.

And Stackfit in all this?

To manage this type of approach, a tool like Stackfit can make all the difference.

Stackfit is an interactive macro-zoning tool that allows you to:

Visualize different implantation scenarios, based on headcount, usage, hybrid ratios

Test consolidations or deconcentrations, with measured impacts on surface area and flows

Co-construct occupancy choices with internal stakeholders (HR, business units, sponsors…)

Simulate the impact of m² reduction on the structure of a floor or building

Far from being a simple planning tool, Stackfit becomes a strategic dialogue support to arbitrate, convince, and manage portfolio transformation with full transparency.

Conclusion: relocation as a performance catalyst

Optimizing your real estate portfolio doesn't just mean reducing scale. It means:

Realigning surfaces with real usage

Transforming real estate into a lever of efficiency and attractiveness

Reducing costs without losing work quality

Giving the company the means to adapt continuously, by making its real estate more agile and intelligent

A good relocation isn't just a change of address. It's an act of strategy.

Well thought out, well equipped, and well supported, a real estate project can reveal the hidden performance of a portfolio… and strengthen the company's ability to face future challenges.